


Questions Without Answers

by theartofbeinganerd



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, But Also a Bit of, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, post 4x02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 07:38:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8154343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theartofbeinganerd/pseuds/theartofbeinganerd
Summary: When Fitz returns to the Playground, it's to the realization that what happened in Pasadena (and the fact that he can't share it with Jemma) weren't even the worst events to occur that day. 
*Set post 4x02





	

**Author's Note:**

> Because I really just need some scenes of Fitzsimmons comforting each other and being a supportive couple. Fair warning, I'm pretty tired and have a lot of feelings and no idea how any of this actually came out, so if it's awful I'm very sorry. 
> 
> Obviously, this fic contains spoilers for 4x02

If Fitz had thought that the mess he and Mack had been forced to leave behind in California was bad enough, he was proven wrong as soon as the ramp to the quinjet lowered and he caught sight of Jemma waiting a little ways away inside the hangar. Her arms were hugged tight around herself, in the way that he knew she was trying desperately to hold herself together and make sure that she didn’t fall apart in front of everyone. Her head was bowed, but the tense set of her shoulders gave her away, and he couldn’t get down the ramp quick enough.

“Jem?” he asked gently, reaching out to place his hands on her upper arms, his thumbs absently stroking her shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

He heard a faint sniffle, and when she finally lifted her head, her eyes were glazed with tears. However, then she shook her head and murmured, “Not here.”

Swallowing back his fears, Fitz nodded wordlessly, wrapping an arm around her and turning them both to leave the hangar. However, before he left, he caught Mack’s eye, and they shared a loaded look, and Fitz was reminded of the fact that after everything that had happened today, he could barely tell Jemma any of it – at least, not the parts that mattered the most.

It was only once the door to their shared bunk had closed and locked behind them that Jemma fell into him, burying her face between his neck and shoulder and hugging her arms almost painfully tight around his waist. He could feel a few wet tears hit his skin, and his concern mounted as he returned the embrace, gently shushing her, even though he still had no idea what had upset her this much.

Finally, after an undefined amount of time, Jemma pulled back enough to meet his gaze, tears still on her cheeks but a determined look in her eyes. “Please tell me you found some answers at that lab.”

Fitz frowned, absently reaching up to thumb away her remaining tears. The truth was that after what he and Mack had seen at that lab, there were more questions than they’d already had and still no answers. Jemma’s face was just so _hopeful_ , and god did he ever hate disappointing her. “Jem…it…well…short answer is no.” Slowly, her expression collapsed once more, and he hastened to add, “But we’re going to find answers, Jemma. I promise you.”

“We might not have the _time_ ,” Jemma cried, her tone heavy with despair and helplessness. “Fitz, _May_ is infected.”

Fitz felt his blood run cold as he flashed back over the footage they’d seen of those gang members that had gone crazy on the others after being infected, how they’d tried to kill each other, and he immediately gave Jemma a worried once-over. “Are you alright? Is everyone okay? May’s…she’s in isolation?”

“ _I’m_ fine,” Jemma replied instantly, shaking her head as though that was entirely insignificant, “But May…she’s…she’s gone _mad_. She was in a _straight-jacket_ when they took her away. I’m so scared, Fitz.”

Almost instantly, Fitz felt a hot rush of disappointment in himself for not finding the answers they so desperately needed at that lab. May’s life could be depending on it, and all he’d done was nearly get himself hurt – _again_. “Shit,” he whispered, half-turning from Jemma and running a shaking hand through his hair. “God _damn_ it, if we’d had more _time_ …”

“Fitz?” Jemma asked in soft concern, her hand lightly touching his shoulder. “What are you talking about? Why didn’t you have enough time?”

Fitz briefly clenched his jaw in frustration, because he couldn’t tell Jemma about Daisy and her mysterious fire-skulled ally appearing at the last moment to save the day no matter how desperately he wanted and needed to, but then he took a deep breath and explained shortly, “There’s more of those…god, I don’t even know what they are. _Ghosts_? This other one, he locked Mack in a reactor set to explode, backed me into a corner and –”

“Did it touch you?!” In a flash, Jemma was in front of him, her wide, terrified eyes scanning over him as though she could visibly find a sign of the infection. “Fitz?!”

“No no no, I’m fine,” Fitz assured her quickly, catching her hands from where they’d been hovering helplessly in front of him as she’d clearly tried to find a way to fix him. Jemma released a relieved breath, her eyes briefly falling closed. “It all got sorted out, but –”

“Sorted out?” she interrupted, her tone disbelieving as she picked up on the one thing he’d tried his hardest to skim over.

“It’s not important,” Fitz insisted, attempting to appear unconcerned, even though that part of the story was the furthest thing from unimportant. “The important thing is that there are others out there, possibly infecting people, and they need to be stopped.”

With a heavy sigh, Jemma fell back into her dismay, her gaze dropping as her shoulders sagged slightly. “How? Fitz, we barely understood that box that contained her, let alone _what_ she is. That facility was supposed to have _some_ kind of answers, and now that it didn’t…where do we go from here?”

Obviously, the stress from the day was wearing on her, the guilt of May’s condition weighing heavily on her even when it couldn’t possibly be her fault. But, Fitz knew trying to convince her of that was a lost cause, especially when she was in this kind of mood, so he resolved himself to be the strong, optimistic one even when he hardly felt like either at the moment. He raised their joined hands between them, pressing affectionate little kisses to Jemma’s fingers. Once she’d raised her gaze back to his, he forced a smile for her and promised, “We’ll figure it out. _Together_. It’s what we do, yeah?”

It took a moment, but eventually Jemma smiled in response, cautiously at first, then that beautiful, brilliant smile of hers that never failed to make his heart grow warm appeared, full of confidence and belief and everything she _should_ feel. “Yeah,” she murmured in reply, giving his hands a small squeeze as she leaned in to capture his lips in a grateful kiss.

Even as Fitz returned the kiss, though, he felt a growing sense of foreboding pass through him that swiftly extinguished any warmth he’d found in Jemma’s familiar and beloved smile.


End file.
